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KUPWARA, Kashmir—The stress among Indian soldiers deployed in forward locations on the Line of Control, has intensified so much that it has started resulting in increase in the number of cases of suicide and fratricide committed by Indian armed forces’ personnel on the front. The situation is being deemed quite alarming in the senior command of Indian Army which has expressed “concern over the traumatic situation faced by the soldiers”. According to a report compiled by reliable quarters monitoring the situation on LoC, the uprising in Occupied Kashmir has unnerved the rank and file of Indian Army whose personnel are nowadays facing enormous mental stress and are totally demoralized. A case of this mental stress came to the limelight during the last month, on October 28, 2016 in Machil sector, District Kupwara. As per details, an Indian soldier whose name could not be ascertained yet, while arguing with a Sikh soldier Mandeep Singh over Khalistan issue, killed and later beheaded him. The matter was reported to DG Border Security Force, who directed the commanding officer to cover up the issue and claim that “Mujahedeen” from across the LoC had carried out the attack. Obeying the wrong and false command of the DG, the local commander spread this disinformation on different platforms in such a manner that it should appear as a Pakistani-sponsored act of fratricide although, in fact, it was a completely local matter i.e a conflict between Indian soldiers that led to this beheading. The sources have also observed that the pressure felt by Indian troops in Occupied Kashmir and the LoC is resulting in the surfacing of ethnic and religious fault lines. Reportedly the Sikh soldiers often argue and scuffle over the Khalistan and Independence of Kashmir issues and the incidents are later covered up and painted as an activity sponsored from across the border.